The present invention relates to unique amide and imide containing compounds and polymers, useful as plastics, coatings and cosmetic ingredients or pharmaceutical excipients, as non-permanent degradable plastics for environmental or medical applications, film formers, tackifiers, tablet binders, haircare fixatives and conditioners, and so forth. Non-polymeric compounds can also have a variety of other uses; for example, high temperature heat transfer or hydraulic fluids, unctuous cosmetic bases, hair care conditioners, surfactants, and solvents to name a few.
Because these amide, and/or imide compounds are large molecules with high boiling points, they are believed to be of low skin and eye toxicity. This makes them of importance especially to the cosmetic and the pharmaceutical industries.
I have found that the Michael reaction of acrylate esters and dialkyl malonates or N,N′-dialkyl malonamides proceeds to produce a tetra-ester or diester diamide suitable for further reaction with mono functional primary amines and/or di-functional chain extenders such as alkanolamines and diamines, affording inexpensive polymers for said applications.
When said polymers are prepared from alkanolamines and said tetracarboxylates, or diamide diesters, the resulting polyesteramide or polyesterimide/amide polymers will eventually hydrolyzed in aqueous solutions. The degradable polymers so formed are inexpensive, valuable, novel and not anticipated by the prior art.